Is the Penn State basketball
program heading in the right direction under head coach Pat Chambers? The fact that this question is in play means
that it might not be.

After three seasons
with the Nittany Lions, Chambers has yet to produce a winning season, yet to
escape the dredges of the Big Ten basement, and yet to win a game in the
conference tournament. The 15 wins in
2014 are the most during his tenure. The
disappointment about this season is that there should have been more victories.

My expectations at the start of the season were for the team
to be on the NCAA bubble periphery and ultimately land in the N.I.T. The Lions started the campaign with one of
the best backcourts in the Big Ten. Tim
Frazier was granted an additional year of eligibility after tearing his
Achilles tendon 4 games into the 2013 season.
The point guard was a major contributor on the 2011 NCAA Tournament team
by averaging 10 points and 5.9 assists per game in that team's final 11
contests. His 19.6 points and 5.6 assists per game the following year earned him first
team All-Big Ten honors.

While Frazier's
injury destroyed any chance of success for Penn State in 2013, it did force
D.J. Newbill into the point guard role where he added ball-handling to his
impressive skill set. Despite playing in
a new role, Newbill managed to average 16.3 points and 4.0 assists. The duo of Frazier and Newbill should have
struck fear into most teams they faced in 2014 and allow the offense inside the
lane to be more effective.

The injury may have knocked Frazier from first team All-Big
Ten status but he still averaged 15.5 points per game in the regular
season. Newbill led the team with 17.8
ppg. The production from these two
players basically met those pre-season expectations.

So why another losing record? Despite that disastrous Rec Hall collapse
against Princeton, the Nittany Lions ended the non-conference portion of their
schedule with a 9-4 mark. That was their
best start to a season since opening at 11-2 in 2009. With an 18-game Big Ten slate, all the team had to do is go 8-10 in league
play to guarantee a winning season even if they lost in the opening round of
the conference tournament.

Now here is where being a fan of this team gets really
frustrating. Since Mr. Peabody and Sherman
are relevant again, I will eschew my normal Doc Brown Delorean references to
travel through time and instead opt for the WABAC machine.

Go back to December
30, 2013. You are told that Penn State
would sweep the season series from Ohio State and win at Indiana. Right there three Big Ten wins. Now the Lions only need to sport a 5-10 mark
in the remaining 15 games. A winning
season would seem to be a near probability.

What transpired was an 0-6 start in the Big Ten, which was followed by a
3-game win streak and concluded with the Nittany Lions losing six of their last nine
to end the regular season.

For every, "They shoulda beat Minnesota at home. They shoulda beat Indiana at home, Purdue on
the road," I can give you that they
easily could have lost both those Ohio State games and the one at Indiana.

As former Arizona Cardinals head coach and
Harrisburg native Dennis Green once said, "They are who what we thought they
were."

No woulda couldas about it, Penn
State is a 6-12 Big Ten team. They won
games they could have lost and lost games they could have won.

Which bring us to head coach Patrick Chambers. What was not to like about his hire in the
spring of 2011? A former top assistant
at power program Villanova. In his first
head coaching gig, he took Boston University to the NCAA Tournament. He also brought with him to Happy Valley no
other coach in my memory had. A
legitimate pipeline to something that eluded Dick Harter, Bruce Parkhill,
Jerry Dunn, and Ed DeChellis, that treasure trove of Philadelphia area
basketball talent.

The talent level of the 2014 Lions is improved over what
Chambers inherited in 2012.
Unfortunately better players is not equating to better success in the
win column. Chambers' first team
featured Frazier, Matt Glover, Billy Oliver, Cameron Woodyard, and Jermaine
Marshall. That squad was 12-20 overall
and 4-14 in the Big Ten.

The 2014 Lions'
regular lineup was Frazier, Newbill, Brandon Taylor, Ross Travis (who started
16 games in 2012), and Donovan Jack.
Chambers had more depth on his bench this season with John Johnson,
Jordan Dickerson, and Geno Thorpe playing key roles. That is a nice upgrade from just two years
prior and then freshman Travis, Nick Colella, Jon Graham, and Sasa
Borovnjak.

Despite having better players
and a deeper bench Penn State only won 3 more games than the team former head
coach Ed DeChellis left behind. More
concerning is that this year's team won only two more conference games than their
2012 counterparts. Is Penn State really
heading in the right direction?

The program is at crossroads. The wrestling team is racking up sell-out
after sell-out at Rec Hall. The addition of NCAA hockey to the flagship school
in a state that features two of the most passionate NHL fanbases south of the
Canadian border and successful AHL teams
in Hershey and Wilkes-Barre with one one the way for the Lehigh Valley should
mean capacity crowds will continue to be routine at the Pegula Ice Arena.

The Penn State Lady Lions basketball team
averaged 5,630 fans at the Bryce Jordan Center this season. The Nittany Lion men topped that figure by a
mere 870 (averaging 6,500). There are
only so many events fans are available and willing to pay to attend. The men's basketball program is in jeopardy of
being the No. 4 winter sports program in the Penn State pecking order
by Nittany Nation.

Unless Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, or Mike Krzyewski walks
through the Jordan Center doors, if a coach with Chambers' credentials can't
win at Penn State than who can? That is
why D.J. Newbill's senior season of 2015 needs to be an NCAA Tournament
season. It cannot be one that ends in
the N.I.T.

During the ESPN2 broadcast of
the February 27 win over Ohio State, the announcing crew stated
Chambers told them that the program was closer to that goal than the fans
realize. For Chambers and the future of the program, I hope he is
right.